Thursday, February 26

Yesterday's evening of moving the furniture around my “garret” (as Sacha van Straten has called it) to clear away more space for a plumber to change the pipes in the room cheered me up. I never realized that I’m strong enough to move sofas and a piano.

The night was wasted on watching House MD season 4 and the most recent NCIS episode that immediately raised my spirits.

This morning I had a lovely stroll down the river to the gulf watching ships in graving-docks, where the most talented shipwrights were getting them ready for deep waters later in March. The sun was shining brightly. Snow was crunching under the feet. The ice on the river was cracking and the whole world seemed to be smiling.

Wednesday, February 25

Tuesday, February 24

Melissa Leo didn't get an Oscar as I hoped. Well, at least she looked gorgeous at the ceremony. Maybe she will be offered more leading roles in the future.

The guys, who are working on my apartment, have finally installed all necessary pipes. They are neatly built into the walls, so they won't be visible under the tiles. The photo to the right shows my bathroom before the pipes have been replaced. That is really cool!

Some of the new pipes are smaller than they should be, so I will have to use them more carefully in the future.

In other news, those blues are on parade again and are difficult to fight back. Even skating on a frosty and sunny day didn't help much.

Monday, February 23

The rules:1. Just state what kind of sports car will you buy if you have a ton of money at the moment.2. Don't spoil the fun guys, please get back to me if you are done posting it and leave a comment stating the name and kind of the vehicle.3. If you could link me to the post, it would be awesome!

Unfortunately, I do not have any. Though, there is a car I would like to waste my money on. Bentley 4 1/4 Litre, released in 1939, was perfect for comfortable long distance Continental touring. The Bentley is incredibly elegant!

Later I googled for top 10 sports car to see if I actually like any. Well, none caught my eye, because apart of being fancy they are actually small and inconvenient.

After reading a dozen car charts I came across the photo of Aston Martin Vanquish with really cool paint job! So that will be my car of the day.

Friday, February 20

There was that guy at the operator’s window asking for an envelope. The operator asked what size of the envelope the client wanted. The guy was surprised to know that the envelopes can be of different sizes.“The smallest one”, he said. “I’m going to send my sister this SIM. She has forgotten it”.Now it was the operator to be surprised: “You cannot send a SIM in an envelope, you must send it in as a registered postal packet”.“No, I don’t. SIMs are not on the banned list”, the guy insisted.“You see, you may send only paper items in an envelope”.“Oh, come on. I’m sure it’s going to be fine. No one is going to check the contents, and my sister desperately needs this SIM”…

Their conversation lasted a few more minutes, the queue behind grew irritated. I was standing in it, amused. If I ever forgot a SIM in another city I would just go to the nearest service center of my mobile provider, block the lost SIM and get a new one with the same phone number and data. It is as simple as that!So, why waste his own time, mine and all the others’ in the queue at the post office?

Eventually, the operator persuaded the guy to buy a greeting card, hide the SIM inside it and then put in the envelope.

Nevertheless I still keep to myself, because time on my own is precious after a working day. I walk the streets, do freelance on my laptop in cafes or blog work on PC at home postponing visits to mum's. I only shower and sleep there, while mum would like me to be around more often. She even promises to buy DSL. That's really nice of you, but... No, thanks my satellite is fine.

Sometimes I stay at *home*. It does not feel like home though, as hot/ cold running water is still off and the fridge does not work. The computer is in the only room of the apartment that is not under reconstruction. Actually all my belongings are now stored in it leaving a tiny square space near the computer.

Besides, I don't have much furniture, so I blog work staying on my knees in front of the screen and look very much like a heathen at the foot of an idol statue.

Good news. The workmen say they will have got the bathroom into shape by the end of the month. *fingers crossed*

Monday, February 16

It started with a phone call from the man of my dreams (What a surprise!) who congratulated me swiftly and then talked for 25 minutes about his recent activities. I tried to response for the first few minutes, but he was so eager to speak that ignored any comments. He didn’t even suggest sex on the phone! That’s why I just put him on the loud speaker and took up polishing nails mumbling on the cell: “hm.. wow… I see” .

In 25 minutes he said that it was nice to have a chat and hung off. Well, at least my nails had been perfectly pink by that time. Besides my beloved siblings presented two huge dark chocolates accompanied with a CD of 24 beautiful love songs performed by a famous Philharmonic Orchestra. So I totally forgot about the guy.

Later the family got together and we had a delicious dinner followed by wild dancing. I have to admit, that a lot of Tom Jones’ music and red wine works much better that sex on the phone.

The conclusion of the day was that I have to find another man of my dreams in the neighbourhood, because long distance doesn’t intensify love at all. It destroys it and turns into indifference.

Sunday, February 15

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

Friday, February 13

The repair of my apartment is in full swing. I called on to see how much of the apartment had already been torn down. To my surprise little was done. The old tiles were removed, the floor and the walls were leveled off, the doorways were widened and new door studs were installed; they even started to glue new tiles. However the pipes have not been replaced, the batteries have not been unpacked and the bathtub is still in the hall, which means I’m to live at mum’s for a couple of weeks more. That’s not cool!

You see, since I started to live at mum’s, she’s been treating me as her little girl. She worries if I’m not at home by midnight, she asks if I eat well at work and why I don’t dine at home. A couple of days ago I slipped on an icy road and limped home half-covered with snow, so mum wanted to make sure that nothing had been broken. She even fills me a lunchbox as she used to when I went to a primary school. It’s crazy!

I have been living on my own for almost eight years now. I have learned to take care of myself and developed certain habits, most of them are outdoor activities. So it’s okay for me not to be at home early, not to eat regularly or fall off the bridge on a regular basis. Mum has been comfortable with it for the last eight years, and I’m wondering why she just can’t behave the same way, while I’m at her place.

I’m not unhappy about bunking down there. I’m glad to have a chance to spend more time with mum, to help her around the house, to chat about my apartment repairing, the parents’ country house decorating and so on. It’s just weird to receive phone calls in the middle of the night requiring where the hell I am. Trust me, mum, there are places you wouldn’t like to know about!

Anyway, I’m spending the coming V-Day with my family at our country house, because the only true love I’ve ever experienced is for my parents, siblings and grandparents.

Thursday, February 12

So much for the blogging addition. I did miss two wonderful days of posting, because in between all the fun of blogging and watching House MD and NCIS I have to make a living.

Monday evening I was offered a translation job, which was so handsomely paid that I accepted it at once. It appeared that there was 10 pages of blueprints and 33 pages of whiteprins of some super powerful thermoelectric power station, which had to be translated by 12PM Thursday. That was tough, as 43 pages of technical vocabulary are quite a challenge for a minor translator of teenage horror stories like myself.

The battle with all types of valves, heat exchangers, various circuits and what not had been going on during most part of Tuesday and for the whole Wednesday. Eventually, I nailed both blue and white prints on time, having learnt a lot of useful words on the way. Exciting!

Tuesday, February 10

I have been spending a lot more time reading and commenting other blogs since I got fired. I even plan my posts sometimes. The thing I have never done before! I used to let my mind go and type whatever there was. Now, things are different.

Day by day I'm becoming more and more addicted to Blog-land, as your stories, memories, photograghs and tags are so much fun! Blogging also deprives me of sleep and I've started to suspect a fatal blog virus in my head...

Fortunately, Definelife has just posted a test on Blogging Addiction, which diagnosed me only 67% crazy. That's good news.

Monday, February 9

The rules: write a blog post of 6 weird things about you, choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" on their blogs.

1. I'm a huge fan of the "The A-Team". George Peppard, Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz rocked and will always be. Besides, I love it when a plan comes together as much as the A-Team members. Besides, I'm on the jazz most of the time.

2. I used to like green colour so much that had my room at the parents' house painted in green and my kitchen furniture was green. I wore only green clothes, used green copybooks, pens, soap, toothbrush and so on. Fortunatelly, the greenfever is over now.

3.I usually give pets a different name. Once a friend bought a cat, which had changed several names until "Zorka" was established. However I still call the cat its second name "Guatemala". The parents's husky was called "Carma", but for me it had always been "Candy" till the last day of her life, because she was the sweetest and the most kind-hearted dog I'd ever seen.

Friday, February 6

"There is nothing we like to see so much as the gleam of pleasure in a person's eye when he feels that we have sympathized with him, understood him. At these moments something fine and spiritual passes between two friends. These are the moments worth living".

Thursday, February 5

Mom's poodle has recently developed a crush on it and even attempted to kidnap my lovely toy. I rescued it twice from his teeth and once retrieved it from the poodle's secret hide-out in the living room. Piggy was so dirty that I had to wash it and then blow-dry.

My step-father got intrigued by the piggy blowdrying and sneaked into his study aka my room. He gasped at the sight of it: his beloved bookcase was now filled with colourful tubes, bottles and tiny cases, the aroma of Kiwi(eau de toilet) used as airspray flying around, some nailpolish was half-opened on his computer table and... there was me drying the piggy with his hairdryer. It was too much to bare.

Wednesday, February 4

1. Link to the person who tagged you.2. Post the rules on your blog.3. Write six random things about yourself.4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave comment on their blog.6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I learnt to swim at the age of 12 (!) That day I slipped and fell overboard. I panicked and instead of clutching at the side of the boat dashed to the shore. It took me 400 metres of waters to understand I could swim.2. I speak four languages, write in six languages and do typos in all of them.3. I'm an Yves Roche fan, as cosmetics is of high quality there and is kept in colourful tubes. Besides, Yves Roche is nature friendly4. Dark chocolate is the only item I may trade government secrets for.5. Most drastic decisions in my life were inspired by books.6. I'm a huge fan of the Beatles, so is Bambi. I have their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band poster, T-shirts, books and Paul's and Ringo's autographs!

Tuesday, February 3

Due to serious repairs in my apartment I had to find a current place to live in. There were several options: grandparents', dad's, or mum and step-father's place.

The grandparents live too far from the city centre. My sister is currently stationed at dad's, so I'd better not go there, as she is a lazy teenager and I'm an ex-teacher who has been telling off lazy teenagers most of her life. I'm sure dad will involve me into upbringing the sister, so I'd rather stay away. Thus the only refuge is mum and step-father's place, which is in two-minute walk from my own apartment, close to the city centre and doesn't contain a crazy teenager. Don't get me wrong I love my sister. I just prefer spoiling her to bringing up.

Anyway, yesterday I collected living essentials, tons of cosmetics and headed to mum's apartment. The step-father answered the door. His jaw dropped when he saw me cuddling my stuffed piggy and clutching a huge bag of cosmetics . He was too startled to say anything. I made my way inside.

Mum and the step-father had prepared their study for my bunking down for a couple of weeks. And I'm now living in a tiny study surrounded by a computer, a huge plant and an empty bookcase that serves as my dressing table. Lovely!

Mum is so excited about the whole thing that even cooks, while the step-father complains that she never gets into so much trouble to feed him. These two are so sweet!

I do feel that three is a crowd at their place. Therefore I'm looking forward to the repair to be completed, so I can go back to my little universe and leave mum and the step-father in peace.

Premio Dardos' significance is the folowing:"With the Premio Dardos is to recognize the values that each blogger uses to transmit cultural values, ethical, literary, personal, etc.. that, in short, demonstrate their creativity through the thought that is alive and remains intact from their letters, between his words. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for a job that adds value to the Web. ”

The rules for receiving the prize are:

1) View the image of the stamp;2) Link the blog for which you received the alert;3) Choose 15 other blogs to those who receive the Premio Dardos.4) And tell everyone, of course